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NORWALK, Conn. – U.S. Rep. Jim Himes (D-4th District) said that it is a lie when his Republican opponent Dan Debicella blames him for
the closing of Derecktor Shipyards
in Bridgeport.

In a recent press conference and in his latest television ad, Debicella said Himes voted to grant $3 million of taxpayer money to Derecktor in 2009. Derecktor, a luxury yacht-builder, had gone bankrupt in 2008, and after receiving money, went bankrupt again in 2012. Debicella said that it cost the Bridgeport area 300 jobs.

In a recent interview with the
Daily Voice
in his Norwalk campaign office, Himes said, “When that ad came out, I thought, ‘Gosh, did I really vote to give money to Derecktos?’ I didn’t remember doing that, but I looked up the vote and it was, in fact, the stimulus.”

Himes said the stimulus program included a competitive grant program, which Derecktor applied for and won.

“It was competitive, it wasn’t an earmark. Months later, Derecktor applied for that grant. I didn’t write a letter of support,” Himes said.

He said Debicella turned that into a headline that Himes gave millions to Derecktor.

“I might have supported them, because I am in the business of trying to support private sector jobs in my district, so I might have. And, in fact, I have supported other similar grants, in this case it just happens to be that I did not.”

“The best part of this is that he, in a bonding vote, voted for a bill that did send money to Derecktor. And there was a line item in there. So he did exactly what he accused me of doing, which I did not do, which was a lack of truthfulness and just mind-boggling hypocrisy,” Himes said of Debicella's tenure as a state senator.

He said that when Debicella ran against Himes in 2010, Debicella criticized the federal stimulus, while celebrating stimulus projects in his district.